SC - mustard sauce

[Cindy Renfrow]

Responding to:

	Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 20:45:17 -0500
	From:  <mailto:renfrow at skylands.net> renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy
Renfrow)
	Subject: Re: SC - "fighter cookies" (was Re: Estrella:  Soup Kitchen
Status)

	Hello!

	>Over on the Calonnet, we've been dicussing the Soup Kitchen. One of
the
	>questions which came up was "why don't we make the food more
period? This
	>is one of the  answers we got. The soup, jerky (which doesn't that
term
	>come from the Carribian?) and stuff is fine, but I've tasted the
	>buisquit/sausage/cheese ball and thought they were horrible
tasting. I
	>also can't recall (in my limited experence to be sure) seeing
anything
	>remotely similar to this in medieval recipes. (which reminds me;
recieved
	>Renfrow's 2nd ed. "Take a thousand eggs..., It's a really cool
book,
	>Cindy!)
	>Beatrix (who is probably taking bigger bites than she can swallow,
but
	>what the hey?)
	>Oakheart, Calontir
	>Springfield, Mo
	><snip>

	Thanks!  I'm glad you like the books!  Turn to vol. 1, pp. 72-73 for
a fish
	Rapeye recipe.  These are really good when made in smaller,
hand-size,
	portions.  The recipes for Chewettes in vol.2  don't specify the
filling
	other than to say to use rissole filling, & there are lots of
rissole
	recipes. Also, the recipe for Raynolle[3], vol.2, p. 522, is pork &
cheese
	& spices, wrapped in dough & fried.  These should give you some
ammunition
	to work with.

	>
	>Admittedly the method of presentation--styrofoam cups, plastic
baggies,
	>etc.-- isn't period, but I think it would defeat a lot of the
purpose to
	>require people to provide their own bowls, etc. as for a feast, and
the
	>soup kitchen certainly can't take on the task of providing
period-looking
	>eating implements for folks.  The cleanup and transport problems
boggle
	>the
	>mind, not to mention the expense.
	<snip>

	I know nothing of the layout of Estrella, but might it not be
possible to
	provide a bowl-washing station (big pot of hot soapy water, plus big
pot of
	rinse water) with servants to do the work, for those who bring their
feast
	gear, and to provide wooden bowls & spoons for those who do not?  (I
used
	to scour flea markets & yard sales for wooden bowls --never paid
more than
	25 cents for a bowl.)

	Regards,

	Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
	
The setup at Estrella is like any other major camping war: no running water,
no cooking facilities, no refrigeration other than coolers, and firepit
regulations.  Cooking is either done ahead of time (beef jerky, fighter
bisquits) or has to be of minimal effort (soup made from prepackaged stuff
and water, boiled over a gas burner stove, and PBJ sandwiches).  There are
also no shopping facilities nearby.  Doing something fried is hard enough
with decent kitchen facilities, but making fresh meat pasties which are
fried, for about 100 HUNGRY persons, over a couple of gas burners, is beyond
the abilities of most of the Soup Kitchen staff (even us who have cooked
dozens of feasts and other large meals).  We also have the safety issue of
meat fillings and the fact that we don't know exactly when the fighters will
show up (fighting can be use an untimely activity, especially the weather is
good and dying fun).

Part of the reason the menu is as it is for the Soup Kitchen is that it is
popular and the fighters like it (THEY do not seem to think the bisquits are
"horrible tasting").  This is a snack to tide them over after a hard day's
fighting, to combat low blood sugar long enough for them to get out of
armor, degrunged, and headed for real food.  This is not meant to be a
meal-type situation, but things that grubby people still mostly in armor can
eat with minimal effort.  Pretty much the only utensil they need is the cup
for soup.

Sorry to sound so negative, but the logistics of feast gear and washing
stations, especially with all the other cleanup involved, and such minimal
facilities (we'd have to boil pots of water to make a washing station, and
the few nonfighters have been waterbearing and/or preparing and serving in
the Soup Kitchen, so there just are no spare people to act as servants) make
it harder to provide such.  Also, the logistics of hauling extra feast gear
for up to 100 or so persons from Missouri/Kansas to Arizona, Mississippi, or
Pennsylvania, when people could be hauling food and camping gear and armor,
just scuttles the whole idea.

							---= Morgan (been
there, served that)


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	                   Morgan Cely Cain * Steppes, Ansteorra


	                     May God have mercy on my enemies
	                     For they shall certainly need it.

	      For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

                I intend to live forever -- so far, so good!

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